Buick Rendezvous

The Buick Rendezvous, introduced in the spring of 2001 as a 2002 model year vehicle and produced through the present, is an SUV produced by the Buick division of General Motors. The Rendezvous (and Rainier) will be replaced by a new crossover SUV, the Enclave, on the GM Lambda platform for 2008.

Background

Given the fact that the vast majority of SUVs were rarely taken off-pavement by their owners, much less driven under serious off-road conditions, a new type of car-based "crossover SUV" was developed that was hoped would provide all the elements that customers actually wanted from their SUVs such as cargo carrying capacity, elevated seating height and the suggestion of an active outdoor lifestyle with less of the negative attributes typically associated with traditional SUVs such as poor gas mileage, uncomfortable ride, high step-in height, propensity to roll over, etc. The formula of a car-based "soft-road" luxury SUV had proven marketable by the highly successful Lexus RX300 and was thought to be a promising new market category for Buick to exploit within this extremely profitable portion of the ever-expanding SUV category.

Technology and notable features

Buick's first truck in its lineup since 1923, the Rendezvous was billed as a combination of the best attributes of a minivan (large cargo capacity, seating for up to seven), a luxury automobile (ride, handling, smoothness) and a sport utility vehicle (truck styling and available all wheel drive).

The Rendezvous was produced at General Motors’ Ramos Arizpe, Mexico assembly plant, where it shared an assembly line with the Pontiac Aztek.

In lieu of four wheel drive, the Rendezvous offered Versatrak, a full-time, fully-automatic all wheel drive system which provided sure-footed traction in the snow and wet could handle moderate off-road surfaces, but was not meant for boulder-climbing Rubicon Trail-type activities.

Like the Pontiac Aztek, the Buick Rendezvous is based on a shortened version of GM's 2nd generation U platform minivans.